Improvement in harvester-gutters



3 Sheets--8heet 2.

A. HARDER. Harvester-Cutters.

Patented June 30,1874.

lnvenlfor Wijn/lemas UNITED STATES ATENT FFGE.

ANTON IIARDER, OF RANSEN, NEAR STEINAR ON THE ODER, GERMAN EMPIRE.

IMPROVEMENT IN HARVESTER-CUTTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 152,486, dated June 30, 1874; application tiled January 30, 1874.

To all lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANTON HARDER, of Ransen, near Steinar on the Oder, in the German Empire, have invented an Improvement in Iteaping and Mowing Machines; and do hereby declare that the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying sheets ofdrawings hereinafter referred to,forms afull and exact specification ofthe same,wherc in I have set forth the nature and principles of my said improvement, by which my invention may be distinguished from others of a similar class, together with such parts as I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patentthat is to say:

My invention has reference to an improved mode of mounting the knife-bar of reaping and mowing' machines, so as to dispense with the usual fixed guides, in which the knife-bar works, thus avoiding a considerable amount of friction and wear.

-My said improvement will be readily understood on reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l shows a plan of the platform of a reaping-machine with my improvement applied thereto. Fig. 2 shows an enlarged section on line X X, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows a section on line Y Y, and Fig. L1 shows a section onA line Z Z. Fig. 5 shows a part.

full-sized section, and Fig. 6 shows a perspective view, of one of the knives.

The knives A are plates of steel with their front sides sloped in the usual form, but these sloped sides instead of being' brought to an edge by beveling them like a chisel or other cutting-instrument are turned up at an obtuse angle to the plane of the blade, so as to form a lip, a., as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, which, being ground on its upper face, c, ilat and par allcl to the plane of the blade, presents a cutting-edge that can work close against the tingers B, and thereby shear the stalks of crop presented to it. The knives A are iixed, in the usual manner, on the bar C, which is caused to reciprocate by any known means-as, for example, by a crank and connecting-rod, as shown at D, Fig. l--but the bar O, instead of working in guides, as in machines of present construction, is, according to my invention, pivoted by pins or screws E to the extremities of elastic bars F, extending under the platform, and ixed at their farther ends thereto or to brackets f projecting down therefrom. The elastic bars F are preferably made of steel; but they may be otl other more or less elastic metal or alloy, and they are iixed with their greater di m ensions or depth standin g verticall y, so that while they are stili' enough vertically to support the knife-bar C and its knives A, they act as springs laterally, allowing the play of the knife-bar to and fro in its reciprocating movement. In the arrangement of such springs, as shown at Figs. l to 5, the front ends of the bars are bent flat, and pass through slots in an angle-iron facing, G, to the platform. ll H are wood ribs on each side of the springs, serving' both to strengthen the platform and as a means of attachment for the thin sheetmetal or wood coveringI, inclosin g the springs on the under side, so as to protect them against injury by stones. K are wood blocks between the ribs II, to which the angle-iron facing Gr is ixed.

Fig. 7 shows a section, and Fig. 8 a plan, of another mode of forming the front ends ofthe springs F. They are in this case forged with. a socket at the end, for receiving the pin E, on which the knife-bar pivots.

In both the before-described arrangements the lower ends of the fingers B are by preference flattened out, as indicated, so as to cover and protect the ends of the springs and the knife-bar.

Fig. 9 shows a section, and Fig. 10 a part plan, of another modification, in which thc tingers B are fixed below the knife-bar, instead of above it, as in the previous arrangements. In this case the pin E pivots in the socket of the spring F, and passes through a slot formed in the flange of the fingers, as shown, two tingers being formed in one piece, as indicated at Fig. 10, to admit of this arrangement. The socket and front end F of the spring may be madeof a separate piece of gun-metal or 1n alleable castiron, fixed to the spring, as shown at Fig. 10; or the spring bars or bearers may be constructed as shown in side elevation at Fig. 13, where F' is a rigid bar or bearer of cast-iron or other metal, connected by a short spring, F, to the bracketf. l, Fig. 9, is the sheet-metal casing nclosingthe springs, secured in front to lugs b on thc fingers l5.

Fig. 11 shows a section, and Fig. l2 a plan, of another modification, more particularly applicable to mowing-machines havin g no platform or a platform of very small extent. In this case the back ends of the springs F are bent round and returned toward the front, where they are secured to brackets j', ixed to the' narrow platform L.

It will be seen that by supporting' the knifebar by means of springs or spring-bearers, as before described, I avoid all the friction caused by the reciprocation of the knife-bar in fixed guides, which friction, particularly when the guides become clogged with grit, is so `great as to require considerable power for impar-tin the necessary rapid motion to the knife-bar.

Having thus described the nature ot' my invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, what I claim is- The spring` bars or bearers, forming the only support for the knife-bar of reaping and mowing machines, substantially as herein described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specication in the presence of two subscribing` Witnesses this 6th day of December, 1873.

ANTON HARDER.

Titnesses HERMANN KREIsMANN, BERTHOLD Roi. 

